It was a great night for fans of the photobooth as the Musée de l’Elysée’s long-awaited exhibition opened to the public, with a packed house of hundreds of photobooth enthusiasts, photography buffs, historians, artists, and others filled the museum’s three floors and kept the photobooth in the cafe running non-stop. 

I saw a lot of familiar faces in the crowd, some of whom we’ve known for years, others just a few days. It was great to finally meet Marco Ferrari, as well as Les Matons, Helene and Christian, all of whom have been invaluable sources of news and information for the site. It was also great to see Igor again, in a meeting as brief as our first one, last year in Paris.

I arrived in Lausanne yesterday and made my way straight to the museum for the opening walk-through and “friends of the museum” reception. The show is terrific; I saw everything over the course of the night, but didn’t examine anything in detail, saving it for today or tomorrow when I’ll have more time. I also forced myself not to bring my camera, which was the right move, because it meant I actually got to talk to people instead of worrying about what I was and wasn’t taking pictures or video of. I met many of the artists whose work is in the show, and was happy to see our old friends Danny, Nakki, and Anthony and Andrea. It was also a pleasure to meet the wonderful staff of the museum who have put together a brilliant show, and who have been so helpful as I’ve worked on the text and video. 

Rob and Anthony have whipped the photobooth into beautiful working order, and all of the guests at last night’s event had a blast taking photos. 

The show is certainly a big event in Lausanne, with lots of press coverage and these great posters all over the city:

I’ll be doing interviews with artists today and the opening reception for the public is tonight. All photobooth all the time!

We are very pleased today to announce the 2012 International Photobooth Convention, which will be held at Electric Lodge in Venice, California, May 18 and 19, 2012. It’s been almost three years since our last event in Chicago, and with all of the exciting stuff going on in the world of photobooths, we’re ready for another convention. Just as in previous years, the event will be a low-key gathering featuring photobooth art, workshops, lectures, projects, and of course, free photochemical photobooths.

We’re still in the early planning stages of the event, but we wanted to make the announcement and let people know with as much lead time as possible. Check back on the Convention page, on our Facebook page for the event, and on our Twitter feed for updates as they become available. We very much hope some of our readers will be able to join us in California for the event, but if not, never fear, it will be well documented on our site as it happens.

Feel free to contact us with any questions about the convention, and stay tuned for more news as we get closer to the date. 

The photobooth show has now gone live on the front page of the Musée de l’Elysée website, and an extensive press kit for the show is now available for download. Check it out to find out more about the show, the artists, and the museum. Additionally, good news for photobooth enthusiasts around Europe: the show will be traveling to Brussels and Vienna later on in the year.

We were thrilled to receive a copy of the catalog for the Musée de l’Elysée show yesterday, a few days before the show opens to the public. I have to say I was taken aback when I saw how substantial it was; I don’t think I was expecting something quite so massive, more than 300 pages in length. It is an absolutely gorgeous piece of work. The partially transparent slipcover has an image of a photobooth curtain on it, and, when removed, it reveals a bright orange hardbound cover with the same text as on the slipcover embossed directly into the fabric. It has to be seen to be appreciated, and is the sort of tactile detail that reinforces my unease about the transition to digital books. 

At first glance, the catalog is an impressive balance of text and images, with many iconic pieces well represented, from Warhol’s silkscreens to the Amélie-inspiring scrapbook of Michele Folco, from Dick Jewell’s found photos and André Breton’s self-portrait, as well as recent work by Danny Minnick, Marc Bellini, and others. I haven’t gone through it with a fine-toothed comb, but I look forward to discovering some unknown examples of photobooth art as I read it over.

The entire catalog is in French, and it’s quite something to see one’s work written so convincingly in a language one doesn’t speak. I thank the skillful translator for transforming my brief essays on photobooths in film into a nice-looking chapter near the end of the book. 

The curators and scholars involved in putting this exceptional work together deserve hearty congratulations, and have created a work that will add immensely to the available body of knowledge about photobooths in history, art, and culture. Bring on the show! 

As I prepare to head to Lausanne in a few days, I’m clearing off some old to-dos from the list, and have added a variety of updates to our ever-growing catalog of all things photobooth.

First, in the world of books and magazines, a few new items: 

Photomatons pornographiques, a slim, French collection of photos from 1992. We can only assume is what it sounds like it is; the book seems scarce and expensive and is maybe best left up to the imagination.

Photographer Liza Rose’s book Le livre extraordinaire de ‑M- features numerous photobooth photos, and even comes with a strip in its elaborate packaging. In addition to the book, Rose created a video teaser for the book that we have listed in our Music Videos section.

Artist Johanna Tagada illustrated a piece about bagels in an issue of Zut! magazine from last year with some photobooth photos.

And finally, a new publication, Regardez il va peut-être se passer quelque chose…, from Alain Baczynsky. 

The book is a collection of photobooth photos taken by Baczynsky over a period of three years, 1979–1981, which capture his mood and mindset after a psychoanalysis session. The photos, which uncover Baczynsky replaying the sessions in his mind, were re-discovered by curator Clément Cheroux of the Pompidou Center and one of the curators behind the upcoming Musée de l’Elysée exhibition, where the photos will be displayed. Mr. Baczynsky will be signing copies of the book at the show, as well. 

In the realm of film, we have two new additions:

Dirty Girl, a 2010 film starring Juno Temple, features a battered photostrip of Danielle’s long-lost father.

In Love Actually, we get an extremely brief glimpse of Liam Neeson and his late wife in a photobooth, as seen in a slide show at her funeral.

In television, Laura Linney’s The Big C featured a photostrip in a recent episode. The booth was at a celebratory funeral for an unborn baby; Rebecca (Cynthia Nixon) was disappointed it was being hogged by Cathy’s friends rather than actual mourners.

Ad agencies seem never to tire of the photobooth as a prop; we have two more ads that prove that the shtick is still fresh in someone’s mind, somewhere.

First, Photomaton, a French commercial for Freedent White gum.

And, more recently, commercial for a charm bracelet from Kay Jewelers that aired last week.

Finally, we’ve also listed a new project, The Sketch-O-Matic, in our Projects section. Made for use at an art space in Manchester, England, last year, the Sketch-O-Matic replaces the photobooth camera with an artist, who draws a quick portrait of the sitter in about the same amount of time as it would take for a photostrip to develop.

Safe travels to everyone heading to Switzerland this weekend and next week. Please come say hi; I’ll be the guy with the camera trying to capture the proceedings. Internet connection willing, I’ll be tweeting and posting some photos from the event over the next week, so stay tuned if you can’t make it in person. 

We’re just over two weeks away from the opening of the Musée de l’Elysée’s major photobooth exhibition, and the official announcement has just gone out. We’re posting it here in its full version, and then zoomed in a bit so you can read the text.

The card features artist Gillian Wearing’s 2003 piece “Self Portrait at 17 Years Old.”

We’re excited to see many names we recognize, many people we count as friends, and a number of artists and photographers we’re not familiar with, as well. We’re looking forward to seeing everyone there.

The new year is nearly upon us, and it’s just two months to go until the opening of photobooth exhibition at the Musée de l’Elysee in Lausanne, Switzerland. We mentioned the show here back in September, and in the intervening months, we’ve been working on our contribution to the exhibition, and hearing from others in the community about the show. If you’re a fan of the history and art of the photobooth, it’s safe to say that it would be a good idea to find a way to make it to Switzerland between February and May of next year.

From the museum’s website:

When the first photobooths were set up in Paris in 1928, the Surrealists used them heavily and compulsively. Within minutes, and for a small price, the machine offered them, in the field of portraiture, an experience similar to automatic writing. Since then, generations of artists have been fascinated by the photobooth concept. From Andy Warhol to Arnulf Rainer, Thomas Ruff, Cindy Sherman and Gillian Wearing, many used it to play with their identity, tell stories, or simply create worlds.

The show includes over 300 exhibits and brings together different media — oil paintings, lithographs, edited films /videos and screenings — revealing the extent of the influence of the photobooth within the artistic community.

I’ll be attending the opening, and I look forward to meeting some of the other artists, historians, and enthusiasts who will be in attendance, as well as old friends from the community who will be making the trip from the U.S. and elsewhere in Europe. We will report back on the show for those who aren’t able to make it. Let us know if you’re coming and we’ll make a point of meeting up in snowy Lausanne.

Thanks to Marc Bellini for sending us some photos of his one-man show in London, which just closed on September 29. 

Check out more of Marc’s work on his new website.

It’s time for some more updates. This round is brought to you thanks completely to our contributors around the globe, without whom we’d be, well, a lot smaller and less well-informed. 

First, thanks to everyone who’s written to let us know about the upcoming photobooth exhibition in Switzerland next February. The show, titled “Derrière le rideau: l’esthétique du photomaton” (“Behind the Curtain: The Beauty of the Photobooth”), has veritably set the photobooth world on fire, if such a thing is possible. 

We’ve heard about the show, which will take place at the Musee de l’Elysee, a photography museum in Lausanne, from folks all over the world, artists and enthusiasts alike. From the sound of it, the show seems as though it will bring together an impressive collection of artwork as well as an examination of the history, the technology, and the cultural impact of the booth. We’re working on a contribution to the show, and I hope we’ll be able to attend at some point during its run, from February 17 to May 20, 2012.

Next up, we’ve got a number of updates on locations, including a couple of firsts. First off, our first photobooth listing in Ireland! If you’re planning a trip to the Emerald Isle, be sure to put Shebeen Chic, a restaurant, bar, and music venue in Dublin, on your itinerary. Ireland’s only photochemical photobooth will be waiting for you there. We’ve been hearing about this location for awhile, and thanks to Imogen for submitting photos and info for our directory.

Another first, here in the U.S.: our first location in state of Indiana. Thanks to Trent for letting us know about his booth at Albert Photographic in Chesterton, Indiana. Our Photobooth Directory has now reached the magical number of 30 states (plus Washington, D.C.), and we’re happy to see the list continue to grow. Send us an update or a new location if you’ve got one.

We also have some new listings in some established photobooth meccas: first, Portland, Oregon, home to two new locations, at Spirit of 77 and Beulahland. Thanks, Victoria!

And finally, we have two new locations in Los Angeles, at The Smell and at The One Eyed Gypsy, both downtown. Thanks, Emma and Raul!

We also heard from Dutch photographer Daniel Heikens this week about his new book (available here on Blurb.com) of facial hair in the photobooth. He used the wonderful booth at the RayKo Photo Center in San Francisco to do his work. Thanks, Daniel.

Next up, we’ll be getting to some long-overdue updates to our Movies and TV section, thanks to tips from our watchful eyes around the world. For now, though, that’s all. Thanks again, everyone.